Bowe's 'last kiss' to beloved Chiefs fan is a fitting farewell for a puzzling star

Published Apr. 23, 2015 5:18 p.m. ET

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- He was mercurial, yet real. Drifting one second, a focus of steel the next. A man of many shades, most of them gray. We claim to know Dwayne Bowe, and yet we sort of ... don't.

On Tuesday he sends out a playful -- perhaps baiting, perhaps not -- tweet referencing his new team (the Cleveland Browns) and its 2015 visit to his old (the Kansas City Chiefs):

That same day, he flies back to Kansas City to personally pay his respects to a beloved fan, the late Betty Johnson, an 86-year-old season-ticket holder known to the players as "Grandma." Bowe even said a few words at her service:

Same guy.

What do we know?

"He flew in for my mother's funeral to give her the last kiss," Susan Johnson, Betty's daughter, told KCTV5.com this week. "I wished I could have seen her in heaven today. I know she was (at the service) in spirit. It was a special ending to a very special person."

We are a complicated species, human beings. Footballer and commoner alike.

America -- or at least the Americans on Facebook and Twitter -- became fascinated Thursday by the headline about an NFL player flying back to the town of a team that just released him to see a fan one last time.

Even National Public Radio devoted a link to it. And let's face it: As pure clickbait, it doesn't come much better, or clickbait-ier, than NFL player attends fan's funeral.

Of course, in November 2013, the viral headline was NFL player with weed asks cop if Sonic is still open.

Same guy.

What do we know?

Another Bowe tweet, this one from Thursday:

Granny had been a season-ticket holder since 1986, a constant from Alex Smith all the way back to Todd Blackledge, through all the highs and lows and heartache and joy in between.

Players like constants. Their world can be glamorous and amorous, but it is also fleeting. Coaches get canned. Contracts expire. Teams move on. Agents shrug. Phones go silent. Hangers-on vanish. Friendships become tested.

But Betty, now -- Betty was always there, in the front row, near the 45-yard line, rain or shine, in good times and bad. She drove a school bus for more than three decades, which, in addition to being a prerequisite for sainthood, meant that she could handle whatever the Chiefs would dish out every Sunday.

Bowe loved Granny. The Florida native made a point, after his arrival in 2007, to run over and kiss her on the cheek before every home game.

Granny loved her Chiefs. When she passed away last Thursday, Chiefs Hall of Fame kicker Nick Lowery was at her bedside when the angels called.

Last Tuesday, Bowe was modeling his new franchise's new uniforms at the Cleveland Convention Center, officially turning the page after eight seasons in Kansas City:

A week later, he helped to gently and lovingly close one family's chapter.

Same guy.

What do we know?

At 30, Bowe was released in March after a seesaw 24 months, a complicated 24 months, 24 months that saw him signed to a four-year, $56 million deal, followed by an arrest, a suspension and just five receiving touchdowns total -- and none last fall -- in 2013 and '14. Yet he also left the City of Fountains as the Chiefs' all-time No. 2 in receptions (532), behind only Tony Gonzalez (916), and all-time No. 3 in receiving yards (7,155), behind only Tony G (10,940) and Otis Taylor (7,306).

But 82 in red, now 80 in orange, left more than that. He left a wreath of white flowers at Johnson's service with an inscription that read:

Same guy.

Maybe the truth lands in the middle. With most of us, when Saint Peter marks up the final tally, it usually does.

You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.

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